Sustaining medicare through consumer choice of health funds: Lessons from the Netherlands

• The current escalation in costs of Australia's health care system does not appear to be sustainable. • Sustainable financing requires direct engagement of consumers - instead of the current political process driven by special interest groups, targeted at gaining a larger share of the federal and state governments' budgets. • Reforms in the Netherlands, directed at achieving universal insurance with consumer choice of health fund, provide valuable lessons for Australia on how to design sustainable financing.